THE discovery of previously unknown drawings by Scotland's iconic portrait painter Sir Henry Raeburn has stunned experts.
Nearly 50 drawings, many apparently carrying the artist's handwriting, went on sale quietly last month in a Cotswold art gallery, at prices of up to £20,000.
Word of the find has electrified Raeburn experts. Taken from an album of sketches
that belonged to Raeburn's patron, the 13th Lord Gray, they range from images of the Sistine Chapel to portraits of famous historic figures.
Just one or two drawings by Raeburn, famous for The Skating Minister and other landmark Scottish portraits, are known to exist. It was believed to be an artform he avoided.
"If it can be established with certainty that they are by Raeburn, then they are immensely important," said Dr Duncan Thomson, former keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and a leading Raeburn expert.
"I hesitate to use the words Holy Grail, but if it can be proved that these drawings are by Raeburn, they are on the level of a holy relic."
The pen-and-ink drawings went on show at the Titian Gallery in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, and word has spread of the discovery.
The gallery's owner, Ilona Johnson-Gibbs, chairwoman of the Cotswold Art and Antique Dealers Association, said it was her most important find in 25 years as an art dealer.
She agreed with her family to sell them 12 years after she bought them from an estate. They are thought to have passed out of the Gray family through an art dealer in the 1930s.
Ms Johnson-Gibbs said a Raeburn expert at the University of Cambridge, Dr David Mackie, had authenticated the drawings and called it "the greatest discovery" he had known.
She decided to sell them after talking with her children. "I would be very pleased if the Raeburn drawings went home to Scotland if that's where they belong," she said.
Dr Thomson said that while the drawings were a welcome find, it was a "great shame" that the sketchbook had been broken up for sale. He plans a trip to Stow-on-the-Wold, while private Scottish dealers have already made their way there.
Raeburn lived from 1756 to 1823. He is best known for portraits of Sir Walter Scott, Colonel Macdonell of Glengarry, and the Rev Dr Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch – The Skating Minister – although some experts claim it was actually painted by a French artist.
X-ray analysis of his portraits shows Raeburn did not make pencil sketches before laying down paint. "It's always been a truism that Raeburn didn't do any drawings," said Dr Thomson. "If they are by Raeburn, this turns that notion on its head." The paper carries the Whatman watermark, of the famous English papermaker of the period.
The pictures include sketches of the Sistine Chapel and portraits after paintings by Sir Anthony van Dyck.
Raeburn probably used etchings of van Dyck paintings to copy from, said Dr Thomson.
